Installed Transfer Switch in House

[Snakebitten]

I think you mean providing electricity to homes that didn't have power.

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[Gros Ventre]

...And Ford made hay over these uses of their Powerboosts!

 

[Snakebitten]

Because it was awesome

 

[Snakebitten]

The debate is whether those loaned Powerboost were connected to the power distribution panel of each home they were loaned to.

I read a few of those articles. I don't remember any of them going into that kind of detail.
And I doubt Ford supplied electricians and the appropriate transfer switch with each truck.

 

[jeffcrum]

I supplied my own PB post hurricane in LA. Went for three days powering everything in the house (managed by me) that we wanted to power. 3/4 tank of gas. Not the house AC. We put a window unit in the bedroom where we both setup our computers.

Even made nachos in an air fryer!

AT&T put a generator on the box down the road. So, we had internet and TV (UVerse) and worked the whole time (both remote).

There are posts on here somewhere about this

 

[Snakebitten]

Ford, or the local and national news articles?

I've never seen a Ford ad or Comercial of a Powerboost powering a home.

Obviously that doesn't mean that there hasn't been one. Just haven't seen it

 

[Gros Ventre]

There are those out there who think that John Q Public should have read the 600 page owners manual so that when he purchased his F-150 with the 7.2kW generator he would have understood that it was made only for contractors at job sites but could not be connected to their home without extensive modification of their homes wiring. Oh come on, Ford made alot of good press out of some natural disasters by "powering homes." Ford knows exactly what they are about, some F-150s are bonded neutral & some are floating neutral. Ford knew what they were doing and remained silent. Stop being obtuse.

 

[jeffcrum]

There are those out there who think that John Q Public should have read the 600 page owners manual so that when he purchased his F-150 with the 7.2kW generator he would have understood that it was made only for contractors at job sites but could not be connected to their home without extensive modification of their homes wiring. Oh come on, Ford made alot of good press out of some natural disasters by "powering homes." Ford knows exactly what they are about, some F-150s are bonded neutral & some are floating neutral. Ford knew what they wre doing and remained silent. Stop being obtuse.

You are absolutely right. I forget that they did both bonded and floating ground generators.

I have the 7.2KW bonded generator. I did float the ground myself when I ran my house off of it.

We have since moved from LA to MO and I have had one need to use the truck to run this house too. I also floated the ground.

In both instances, I am renting and can't make any real changes to the houses. I temporarily open up the box and put the 30 amp breaker in to do what I need to do.

 

[Snooker_ML]

I agree that every article I saw about the Texas ice storm outage, was with extension cords, not connecting to your main breaker panel. Both can "power a house" basically. The main guy in Houston even said he used extension cords because he had not "hooked it into his house wiring YET".

YET. Like "I'll get my screwdriver out after the storm is over and hook that up". Nope.

I like most assumed you call your electrician and they just hook it up. Not so simple, for sure not cheap, at least not in my area, which is strict. I don't really have a strong need for it so I gave up.

Also, terms like "floated the ground" can mean a million things. If you *could* separate the neutral to ground bond AT the truck generator that would be great (nobody is doing this of course), but VERY different from clipping a ground connection pin so the truck ground does not attach to the cable or the house, or between the inlet box twist lock socket and the breaker, OR. Not in terms of "will it work" but in terms of electrical exposure.

 

[jeffcrum]

I agree that every article I saw about the Texas ice storm outage, was with extension cords, not connecting to your main breaker panel. Both can "power a house" basically. The main guy in Houston even said he used extension cords because he had not "hooked it into his house wiring YET".

YET. Like "I'll get my screwdriver out after the storm is over and hook that up". Nope.

I like most assumed you call your electrician and they just hook it up. Not so simple, for sure not cheap, at least not in my area, which is strict. I don't really have a strong need for it so I gave up.

Also, terms like "floated the ground" can mean a million things. If you *could* separate the neutral to ground bond AT the truck generator that would be great (nobody is doing this of course), but VERY different from clipping a ground connection pin so the truck ground does not attach to the cable or the house, or between the inlet box twist lock socket and the breaker, OR. Not in terms of "will it work" but in terms of electrical exposure.

I do want to talk about this as well. I actually tried to remove the neutral/ground bond in the box and leave everything in tact for the F-150.

But, somewhere in the house, something was tied where it should not have been. So, I still got the truck fault.

And, though, it would not have been to code (really? not sure I believe this). But, for the temporary time I was off of grid and on the truck, if I could have just split the bond at the box and left it at the truck, that would have been cool with me. But, since someone wired the house wrong, I was not able to do this. It was bonded either in the house or the box just by wiring wrong.

 

[Snakebitten]

I am still waiting for just one example where Ford misled a Powerboost consumer into purchasing a Powerboost for whole home power distribution.

Not to mention that it can and has been done by some folks right here on the forum.

I can handle being accused of being obtuse, but I don't think I am being.

 

[Davexxxx]

I spent a decent portion of my work life, writing, reviewing, administering and enforcing, contracts. Whether it is towing capabilities and how, or whether and how a powerboost can power your home, you can't ignore the footnotes. Not in the contracts themselves, or any advertising.

Even the lightning, which they do advertise as being able to do so, speccs. specific gear and has a disclaimer about following local codes and professional installation.

People can wish it was different but it isn't and it isn't going to be. Ever.

Anyway, we just lost power for a few hrs. Since there was a tornado nearby, I had no idea how long it would be. Last time that happened, it was 7 days. I spent the entirety of that time, rounding up flashlights and radios, checking batteries, cleaning contacts etc.

I had just finished, when the power came back on. I'd have been thrilled, to have been able to run a few cords from the truck to the fridge and freezer and a few other things, even without being able to plug in the whole house.

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